DPW Yanked a Car Lane From This Block of 15th Street and Nobody Noticed

15th Street between Arapahoe and Lawrence streets used to be four lanes wide. When construction began in June on what will become Denver’s fourth tallest skyscraper, the Department of Public Works tweaked the street. Construction crews needed part of the right of way, so to maintain the protected bike lane, DPW nixed a motor vehicle lane.

And guess what? Traffic still flows just fine.

These two videos show the morning and afternoon rush hour during recent weekdays. Not only is traffic moving smoothly for two minutes straight, but at one point in each video, it takes almost 30 seconds for even one vehicle to pass.

When the city proposes reallocating a lane away from cars, fear-mongering inevitably follows from people who equate one less lane with a longer commute. But the truth is, on many Denver streets motor vehicles get more space than they need. How many other streets in the city are like this block of 15th, with acres of asphalt just waiting to be repurposed?

Today Mayor Michael Hancock gathered with community members at City Hall to share a set of plans that will guide how Denver will change to keep its people housed, healthy and safely getting to the places they need to go over the next 20 years.

After the Global Climate Strike, where students in Colorado and around the world demanded climate action, elected officials at all levels of Colorado government appear to be shrugging their shoulders, offering political agendas that fail to envision a better transportation future.